1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer-based tools for manipulating digital images. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus that facilitates performing image-editing operations with source and/or destination areas that span multiple perspective planes.
2. Related Art
Unlike conventional film-based images, digital images can be loaded onto a computer system. This allows the digital images to be edited and otherwise manipulated using computer-based “image-editing tools.” These image-editing tools can perform various operations on two-dimensional images. For example, typical image-editing tools include: a selection tool that selects a region or an object within an image; a copy tool that copies a selected object from an image; and a paste tool that pastes a copied object into an image. Image-editing tools can also include “image-modification tools,” which enable a user to change the color, shape, size and proportions of a selected object.
However, an image may contain elements that are two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects. A given three-dimensional object typically includes a number “perspective planes,” wherein each perspective plane undergoes a different transformation to produce a corresponding two-dimensional representation of the three-dimensional object. Unfortunately, conventional image-editing tools do not account for perspective, which makes regions of the image having perspective challenging to edit.
This problem has been somewhat alleviated by an image-editing system that accounts for such perspective. (See pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/974,547 filed on 26 Oct. 2004, entitled, “Perspective Editing Tools for 2-D Images,” by inventors Ralf Berger and Steve M. Troppoli, which is a parent to the instant application, and is herein referred to as the “parent application.”) In the image-editing system disclosed in this parent application, edits are restricted to a single source perspective plane and a single destination perspective plane. Consequently, an image-editing operation that crosses the intersection of multiple perspective planes has to be broken up into multiple image-editing operations. This is extremely cumbersome, if not impossible, for objects having a large number of perspective planes.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus that facilitates performing image-editing operations with source and/or destination areas that span multiple perspective planes.